2,400-Year-Old Fruit Discovered Intact Underwater In Ancient Egypt Ruins
Image via IEASM
After an ancient military vessel was uncovered in the ancient Egyptian sunken city of Thônis-Heracleion last month, the team led by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) has made further discoveries at the same site.
In a statement last month, a tumulus (Greek funerary area) was declared to have been found alongside the wrecked ship. Now, ancient Greek ceramics have been found amongst the remains of the tumulus, and surprisingly, baskets still filled with what must’ve been offerings.
Even more surprisingly? The fact that the contents remained still rather intact. Grape seeds and doum fruit lay in the wicker baskets for millennia, untouched. It’s speculated that they were able to retain their condition either because they were buried soon after being offered, or because they had been kept safely in an underground room.
Greeks were allowed to settle in the city during the Pharaonic period, and built their own communities and settlements near the temple of Amun. However, a series of earthquakes led to the collapse of the area they had built on, swallowing the city alongside its neighbor, Canopus.
Thônis-Heracleion was located at the mouth of the River Nile’s Canopic branch. The once-bustling city is described to have hosted “intense activity”, which brought about its prosperity. Franck Goddio, who leads this archeological research, estimated that just 5% of the city has been discovered so far.
[via CNN, image via IEASM]
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